“Before the discussion gets sidetracked on the basis of caricature, lett us grant that the arbiter of long and short ought not to be a particularly strict dorm monitor at a fundamentalist Bible college. Paul says short, not ‘less than a quarter inch, with pink sidewalls around the ears.’ He says long, not ‘over a …
Fabulous Hats
“Looking for flourishing chastity in such settings is a sexual snipe hunt. Just ask the question directly. Those denominations that worked through the controversy of women’s ordination a generation ago have certainly moved on. Their controversies now concern whether sodomites should be wearing sodomitres in solemn procession up the central aisle” (Why Ministers Must be …
Sexually Realistic
“Paul is concerned throughout the passage with men and women maintaining a sober and dignified relationship to one another, and this includes the men avoiding prize-fighting, the women avoiding trying to look like the prizes, and the women avoiding a usurpation of teaching authority” (Why Ministers Must Be Men, pp. 19-20).
Standing There In My Smarty Pants
Many questions were generated when I wrote that Christians were in the process of going liberal if they gallop after every trend that was likely to show up over at Stuff White People Like.Or try Unhappy Hipsters. So allow me to address some of those questions now. This whole point seems to me to be …
Expecting Trouble
“When women dress in the ostentatious ways described, it is not an act in isolation. It is because they are vying for the attention of the males. And when this kind of sexual parade is tolerated, they will get that male attention, and almost always from more than one guy. When Helen of Troy starts …
Andrew and Mary Katherine
If someone entirely unacquainted with Christian Scripture or church history were given a copy of just the Old Testament, and that person read it carefully and thoroughly, one of the first things he would wonder would be, “Where’s the sequel? Where is the second part?” The Scriptures that were given to Israel were clearly looking …
Three Things Sarah Palin Needs to Get Ahead Of
Readers of this blog may recall that in the last presidential election, I brought myself to vote for the Repuglican ticket for the first time in many years, and I did so because of Sarah Palin’s presence on that ticket. She is genuinely and sincerely and believably pro-life, and that, in my mind, is the …
Pod Porn
One of the older fears about pornography that has not been borne out has been the fear that widespread pornography would create a sexually enflamed male populace. But what has happened is that porn has actually dampened sexual interest in real women, serving many men as a cheap substitute. When it comes to real people, …
The Rubber Band is Just Fine
“What Paul is urging here he calls modesty, which in this place is not so much directed at décolletage only as it is against every form of ostentatious display. All the things mentioned were the sorts of things that ancient women of the Roman glitterati did — braiding jewels into their hair and sprinkling gold …
And What A Peaceful World It Would Be . . .
[Discussing 1 Tim. 2:8-15] “These men should be men who have refrained from the characteristic male sins of anger and quarreling. The hands that are lifted up to the Lord should not be hands that have struck another in ungodly anger . . . When Paul says ‘likewise,’ he is not comparing the sins themselves, …